TheChat: Missouri Rep. Vicky Hartzler stands with Kim Davis

▪ ▪ “I stand with Kim Davis. It’s a sad day when we imprison someone in America because of their beliefs. Freedom of religion is our first right.” — Missouri Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler on Twitter defending the Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue same-tax marriage licenses.

Rudi Keller of the Columbia Daily Tribune points out that Hartzler is the only member of Missouri’s congressional delegation to publicly back Davis. Hartzler was the spokeswoman for the Missouri Coalition to Protect Marriage in 2004. The group was seeking to place a ban against same-sex marriage in the Missouri Constitution. (link via johncombest.com).

▪ “Restoring the right to rise in America requires accelerating growth, and that can’t be done without a complete overhaul of the U.S. tax code.” — Republican Jeb Bush previewing a tax overhaul strategy that he said would “unleash” 4 percent growth.

Bush wants a simpler tax code and one that will generate more pop than growth rates under President Barack Obama. “To achieve these policies, we have to change the way Washington works. And we have to change who we send there to lead,” Bush said in a statement.

▪ “We just have to stay constant, stay who you are.” — Republican presidential hopeful Scott Walker on what he has to do to turn around his faltering campaign.

Walker has taken to traveling through New Hampshire on a rented Harley-Davidson Road King. As much as anyone in the field, Walker is a victim of Donald Trump’s remarkable candidacy that shows no signs of flagging.

▪ “My secret was taken from me ... the public shaming that I experienced as a rape victim and the 'victim blaming' that I experienced is unprecedented.” — government consultant Brittany Burke who was in the news in June after going to police to say she had been the victim of a sexual assault or rape. The police report was later released without her knowledge.

The report disclosed that she had a previously relationship with John Diehl before he became House speaker. Burke had wanted to keep the police report private. She now says there’s a culture of “double standards between men and women” and “victim shaming/victim blaming” that goes well beyond the state Capitol.